CDE Journal Entry 2

I felt that the CDE lessons has become more lively and open, with the starting of the term presentations. With our classmates discussing their findings and opinions with us, we are more likely to engage with you and provide constructive feedback. This, in addition to Mr Karplus’s detailed and content-rich explanation, has made the lesson more fruitful and interesting.

In our fourth lesson, we looked at the Western perceptions of individual rights and liberties; in contrast to the Confucian ideology we learnt the previous lesson which emphasizes society over self.  The Western ideology of individualism is largely influenced by the American War of Independence and the French Revolution.

Both Revolutions are carried out with the background in the Age of Enlightenment, where people seek to apply the ideals of science and reason gained during the Scientific Revolution to solve societal problems, the cornerstone of which is the concept of a limited government, where a social contract is stuck between the people and the government, with power given to the people to topple the government it is not deemed fit.

The significance of these Revolutions is that they put the Enlightenment ideals of “Life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” preached by the Revolutionaries into action. The Americans formed their own government by the people, for the people, and free from British colonial rule, while the French abolished the monarchy and putting the people in power, with equal rights given to the third estate instead of being reserved for the elite minority: the clergy and the nobility.

However, there are also some limitations to the Revolutions. The American War on Independence did not completely emancipate slavery, while Napoleon was born out of the French Revolution, who declared himself Emperor and brought back the idea of monarchy.

In our fifth lesson, we looked at the dichotomy between China and America. Some of the generalized differences between China and America societies are that China is seen as a collectivist state, where greater emphasis is placed on society as a whole instead of individuals; while America is seen as individualistic, where higher value is placed on personal freedom and liberties.

Chinese emphasizes harmony and interpersonal relationships, avoiding direct confrontation and open criticism; while Americans are more task-oriented and are willing to press personal opinions about what they consider is right.

Social relationships in China are formal and hierarchical, where people are most comfortable in the presence of a hierarchy where they know their place in society; while that in America is informal and egalitarian where people are most comfortable with their social equals.

The governments have a part to play in shaping these differences too. The Chinese government’s excessive intervention in the market to protect China’s state-owned enterprises results in the America perception that there is no free market in China. Furthermore, the Chinese government’s strict censorship of the Internet and media, and the oppression of political dissenters, also prompted the US to label China oppressive. On the other hand, the US’s “Return to Asia” strategy results in the Chinese perception that the US is selfish and self-conceited, wanting to contain the rise of China.

In the sixth lesson, we examined the synthesis of Confucianism and Western ideals, and the Chinese and Western perceptions of self have an impact in our daily life, with Singapore constituting an example of a Confucian society that has adopted Western philosophical construct and ideology.

As a Singaporean, the dichotomy and fusion of Western and Eastern cultures in our daily lives is evident. As Chinese, we should inherit the traditional Chinese culture, yet we yearn to grow closer to the splendorous culture of the West. However, it is possible for both cultures to blend. Where else to look than Chinatown, with the rows of nostalgic shophouses and street stalls set against the backdrop of the state-of-the-art city skyscrapers?

We have also received bilingual education, a cornerstone of Singapore’s education system, for the past 9 years, with English being the language of commerce and global communication, and Chinese being our mother tongue that reminds us of our cultural roots, especially Confucianism.

Furthermore, Singapore is a highly Westernised nation, however one of the driving forces that make us succeed was that most people placed importance of societal welfare above self, applying the Confucian concept that family is the most important unit in society and all families together form society. There is willingness to sacrifice individual gains for the common good, enabling us to avoid industrial strife during our course of industrialization.

Looking at the menu with both Kopi-O and Cappuccino, we need to realize that at least, in Singapore, the Chinese and American cultures can be integrated into one.

All in all, the lessons are well-planned, in-depth and productive. I certainly look forward to the next CDE lesson!

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CDE Journal Entry 1

I feel that CDE lessons are generally thought-provoking and engaging, especially using the methods of tutorials and case studies as we have to read up before the lesson and therefore the class discussions are more fruitful.

In our first lesson, we analyzed the “Google Way” of management and innovation, where the principles of innovation and creativity are encouraged through material perks and particularly opportunities for personal freedom to explore what employees want, in other words extrinsic and intrinsic motivations.

Google’s famous “20 percent policy” is an example of this. 80 percent of the employees’ time is dedicated to assigned projects, with the personal research of their own choosing. The personal undertakings are subjected to a peer review process and if the project is found promising, it is adopted as an official, company-funded project.

This makes the company particularly attractive to young freedom-seeking graduates. Productivity will also be enhanced as employees are intrinsically motivated to work harder to free up their own personal time, and underperforming employees will be weeded out as those that show little progress will not earn their colleagues’ respect. This policy has led to the creation of new Google products such as Gmail, Google News and Orkut.

However, the effectiveness of the Google way has been questioned. Despite the hype, more than 95 percent of its revenue is still from Google Search advertising. Sometimes the right constraints can focus creativity where it is most needed and help ensure the highest investment returns, as shown in the Apple model.

By deliberately going against the Google mantra of “Don’t be evil”, Apple has thrived. Apple creates its products the “old-fashioned” way under the notorious micromanager Steve Jobs.  It is true that it is somewhat similar to the Asian model of a hierarchical, top-down management approach, but Job’s famous charisma, which kept everyone going tirelessly to earn his hard-to-win approval, would be hard to replicate.

Google’s management style which emphasizes openness and outrageousness is contrasted sharply with that of Apple, which is famed for it almost cult-like secrecy and dictatorial approach to its employees. Both styles have their own pros and cons. While Google epitomizes Western values of liberty and freedom, Apple’s authoritarian management approach may seem to better fit Asian countries, especially China.

For our second case study, we looked at why Lenovo and other Chinese companies encounter difficulties when expanding into the international market. Before that, we took a Cultural Quotient self-assessment to better understand the importance of cultural intelligence, which is essential not only for our personal development, but also for our preparation for an increasingly globalized world market.

With this understanding, we can see that it is cultural differences, and Lenovo’s lack of capacity to solve them and its reluctance to accept Western management styles, that led to its difficulty in expanding beyond the domestic market. When Amelio was CEO of Lenovo, he encountered friction between Western and Chinese management styles. He was frustrated by his Chinese colleagues’ reluctance to speak their minds and their preference to follow others. Lenovo relied on a US-consulting firm to help integrate the IBM PC acquisition, but neither of them fully understands the cross-cultural challenges.   

For our third case study, we looked at Confucian ideology and the impact it has on China today. The principles of Confucian ideology is the idea of harmony of “Datong”, and that all men are essentially good, and thus the emphasis on individual moral attainment. It emphasizes a top-down social order and the ruler has full autonomy to make decisions as long as they are beneficial for the citizens, while the people must know their place in the social hierarchy.

Looking beyond its moral significance, we can see that after years of anti-Confucianism, the Chinese is again embracing Confucian values and morals to restore some sort of order in such a volatile and hectic society, besides rising nationalist sentiments.

The Chinese government also uses Confucianism as a way to control its people in the face of growing societal problems such as corruption by emphasizing on moral education, while in fact moral values relies on the individual’s moral capacity and thus ineffective in solving the problem at its roots. Confucianism is also used as an international diplomatic strategy to show the international community that it only seeks to coexist peacefully with the rest of the world while spreading cultural hegemony.

All in all, the assessment structure is certainly preferable to the cold, inflexible tests that only require cramming of knowledge; it involves classroom participation and reflective journals which not only stimulates critical and active thinking, but also allows students to develop at their own pace while catching up with the lessons. The lessons are fun and lively, enriching and humorous, engaging and broad-based. I think the lesson package was well-planned but perhaps it can be more detailed with more time devoted to explain each tutorial. Looking forward to the next CDE lesson!